Niger to export petroleum products to Nigeria

President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger said, on Tuesday when visiting President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, that his country planned to export petroleum products to Nigeria to ameliorate the problem of scarcity of the products facing residents of 19 Northern Nigerian states.

Niger Republic, which shares common border with north-east and north-west Nigeria, would be getting supplies of the products from Zinder Refinery in Niger Republic to Nigeria, the visiting head of state said.

Issoufou said Niger would cooperate with Nigeria in the battle against terrorism and the proliferation of small arms which posed challenges to security in the sub-region.

Jonathan, for his part, explained that the government would use the platform provided by the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission to foster mutual development in the areas of power, agriculture, rail transport and water supply and education.

Nigeria, the sixth largest oil producer with four refineries is into massive importation of petroleum products, especially petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel as the nation’s refineries were in comatose.

The country continuously voted money for the rehabilitation of its refineries but no result was in sight as they continued to render epileptic services.